


Adult Supervision

by Kenjiandco



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Falling In Love, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff, In line with canon, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-18 22:35:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5945833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kenjiandco/pseuds/Kenjiandco
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Lost one molar, cracked two more, he’s got some pretty good cuts in his tongue and he’ll be feeling that landing in his shoulder for a couple weeks...but yeah, he’ll be okay. It could’ve been worse…” he trailed off and took another long, harsh drag of smoke. He sounded like he was trying to remind himself…or maybe convince himself. Saeko tipped her head, watching his face in the fading light.</p><p>“Are you okay?”</p><p>Ukai shot her a sidelong glance, raising an eyebrow, and Saeko huffed a laugh. “Look, Ryuu may be my brother, but I practically raised the little hellion. I know what it’s like, being scared absolutely shitless and trying to hide it so the kids don’t see. And I know those kids are the world to you.”</p><p>After the fairly disastrous Wakutani game, Saeko goes looking for Ukai</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adult Supervision

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Viria's beautiful
> 
>  
> 
> [beautiful Ukai/Saeko painting](http://viria.tumblr.com/post/138553591033/i-found-myself-in-this-ship-before-i-could)
> 
>  
> 
> which slapped me in the face with a new ship that I just HAD to write.
> 
> Set after episodes 17/18 and the game against Wakutani, so potential for very minor spoilers if you aren't caught up to the anime!

It took her longer than she’d expected to find him.

As soon the match ended and Wakutan and Karasuno left the court, (Karasuno clustering around their bruised captain like a flock of ducklings) Saeko headed for the nearest designated smoking area.

He wasn't in the first place she looked, orthe second one, on the other side of the courts, or the third near a parking lot. She almost missed him in the fourth, a small balcony that overlooked the grassy outdoor fields below. 

Ukai sat on the gritty cement, a little way from the balcony doors and apparently oblivious to the biting January wind. In his dark blue tracksuit he all but disappeared into the shadows under the walls: if it weren’t for the plume of cigarette smoke rising against the sunset sky, she never would’ve seen him. In the dim half-light filtering through the tinted glass doors (and away from the admiring eyes of his players) he looked very tired, and very young.

He started when she pushed the doors open, looking around guiltily, the leg pulled up against his chest twitching as he got ready to jump to his feet. Then he registered her face, and relaxed with a shake of his head.

“They aren’t waiting on me, are they?” he asked, stubbing out his cigarette on the concrete.

“Nah, I think you’ve got a while yet.”

Ukai sighed, leaning his head back against the wall. He picked up the pack of cigarettes leaning against his leg and shook out a fresh one. After a second’s hesitation, he glanced up at Saeko and extended the pack in her direction.

“Eh, why not.” She took one and sat beside him, pretending she didn’t see his eyebrows jump in surprise at the familiarity. “I haven’t had one of these since high school.”

Ukai laughed softly, pulling a stainless steel lighter out of his pocket. He lit hers first (always the gentleman), and their fingers brushed as she cupped her hands around the flame to shield it from the wind. His nails scraped faintly against her skin, jagged and bitten down to the quick.

“Daichi’s okay?” Saeko asked. She slouched back against the wall to match his posture, grateful for her thick leather jacket between her and the cold stone. Ukai sighed out a stream of smoke and let his forehead drop against his drawn up knee with a tired nod.

“Lost one molar, cracked two more, he’s got some pretty good cuts in his tongue and he’ll be feeling that landing in his shoulder for a couple weeks...but yeah, he’ll be okay. It could’ve been worse…” he trailed off and took another long, harsh drag of smoke. He sounded like he was trying to remind himself…or maybe convince himself. Saeko tipped her head, watching his face in the fading light.

“Are _you_ okay?”

Ukai shot her a sidelong glance, raising an eyebrow, and Saeko huffed a laugh. “Look, Ryuu may be my brother, but I practically raised the little hellion. You wouldn't _believe_ the ways that boy's found to injure himself. I...I know what it’s like, being scared absolutely shitless and trying to hide it so the kids don’t see. And I know those kids are the world to you.”

At that _,_ he finally looked at her, _really_ looked at her, dark eye wide and surprised. Saeko looked back, searching his face for the brief moments it stayed unguarded. Ukai was the one to look away, running his free hand over his face.

“God.” He hunched up again, curling in on himself to rest his arms on his knees. “There was a minute there, when he wasn’t getting up…I…I thought…” he shook his head, jaw muscles flexing as his teeth clenched on the words.

“I know,” Saeko said simply. She stubbed out her cigarette and slid closer. Close enough to lean into his side and slip her arm around his shoulders, feeling him shiver as her fingertips grazed his wrist below the cuff of his jacket.

She’d been expecting him to stiffen, or startle in surprise again, but Ukai just let out a long, tired breath and leaned into her. He drew his knees up to his chest again, and when her hand settled over the back of his, resting on his knee, neither one made any move to pull away.

“Thanks, Saeko-san,” he said softly. Saeko shrugged.

“You looked like you needed it. And don’t call me –san,”

“Yeah…two strained shoulders, one cracked tooth, Suga and Shimizu look as close to freaked out as I’ve ever seen them…oh, and Yamaguchi won’t even look at me. Not a _perfect_ day.” He rubbed his face again, and if his fingers wiped quickly at the corners of his eyes, Saeko pretended not to notice. “I threw a fifteen year old into the kind of pressure that would break any five adults, and he came out of it feeling like _he_ had to apologize to _me…_ after a _six_ teen year old told me to get my head out of my ass…”

Saeko grinned at that one. “Chikara did you proud today, huh?”

Ukai glanced at her and arched an eyebrow. “You don’t sound surprised.”

“I’m not. He’s quiet, sure, but he knows how to handle himself.” She blew a breath upwards, fluttering her bangs against her forehead. “Hell, he’s been fairly instrumental in keeping my little brother _alive_ since the onset of adolescence. He’s good at handling idiots.”

Ukai snorted. “That. He most certainly is.”

“Hey.” Saeko knocked her shoulder against his, and smiled when he turned to look at her. “Thanks.”

“…what for?”

“Listen, the day Ryuu came home yelling about how they finally had a real coach…I don’t think I’ve seen him that excited in _years._ And this is _Ryuu_ we’re talking about.” Ukai chuckled. “They’re a pack of little…perpetual motion engines to a man, but…it was wearing them down, knowing no one at that school cared that they existed.”

Ukai looked away at that. “You should be thanking Takeda-sensei, not me.”

“Oh, I’m grateful to him too, don’t get me wrong. He saw they had potential, but it was _you_ who actually _did_ something with it. Made them feel like they could finally start getting stronger instead of being stuck in a rut, getting shut out every other game.” The wind gusted, whistling around the building, and it was as good an excuse as any to lean closer. “I was getting sick of seeing my baby brother come home from tournaments crying in frustration. Now, even when they lose they’re all bouncing off the walls wanting to get back out there and do it all again. _You_ gave them that.”

“You give me too much credit,” Ukai whispered, but he was smiling when he said it.  

They lapsed into easy silence for a while, watching the sun gradually slip below the horizon. The wind grew colder as the sky grew darker, and Saeko pressed a little closer to Ukai’s side as a gust bit straight through her thin jacket. He didn’t say anything, just shifted the arm on her side a little, pulled it out from between them and slipped it behind her back so she could lean closer, his body shielding her from the worst of the wind.

“You ever catch yourself thinking _I need adult supervision,”_ Saeko said, eventually, “and then remember _shit,_ I _am_ the adult supervision?”

Ukai laughed. “Not a day goes by. Someday I’ll have to man up and stop getting Daichi to fix it for me.”

“I _fully_ intend to keep letting Chikara do my dirty work.”

He had a _great_ laugh, low and warm and free of the don’t-give-a-shit edge he wasted so much energy maintaining, and with the sound of his laughter to make her brave Saeko took a deep breath and laced their fingers together.

She was close enough to hear his breath hitch, heat creeping across her cheeks as he froze for a moment…and then turned his hand in hers and squeezed gently. This time it was Saeko who shivered, tilting her head so her temple rested against his cheekbone. He made a soft sound, a barely audible hum deep in the back of his throat at the contact dark eyes fluttering shut for a moment and—

“Hey.” Saeko frowned at their joined fingers, and poked his thumb with her free hand. It came away with a dark smear on the fingertip. “You’re bleeding.”

“Ah, hell…” Ukai swore softly, freeing his hand to glare at his cracked thumbnail. “I bit it down too far, waiting for news on Daichi…” his phone buzzed in his pocket and he shut his eyes, exhaustion flickering across his features for a moment before he got to his feet. “And that’ll be Takeda.”

Saeko stood too, and he turned to look down at her across the sudden height difference, clearly unsure what to say.

“I have to go…I…”

“Hang on.” He blinked in surprise as Saeko dove for her purse, abandoned by the door, and rummaged through an outside pocket. “Somewhere in here…got it.” She dropped her purse with an unceremonious thump, and peeled apart a band-aid wrapper. “Lemme see your hand.”

  
Adult supervision, huh?” Ukai said, his eyes soft as she seized his hand and wrapped the band-aid around his bleeding nail. Saeko rolled her eyes.

“My home is constantly full of teenaged boys. I travel prepared.”

She smiled up at him, still holding his hand in both of hers, and their eyes met face-to-face, for the first time that night. She was suddenly very aware of her heartbeat in her chest, the faint rush of blood behind her ears…the pulse fluttering in his palms and the rough bands of callouses across his fingers from harvesting beans too early in the morning…

She leaned closer, even if that meant she had to tip her head up to look at him, lips parted and cheeks flushed and the wind pulling loose strands of hair across his eyes. His phone buzzed. Annoyance flashed in his eyes, behind the uncertainty, and Saeko couldn’t shake the feeling that she was right on the edge of something slipping away too quickly to be caught.

“Uka— _Keishin,_ I—“

He cut her off, not with words but with a movement. Ukai cupped both his hands around hers and lifted them to his lips, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to the back of her hand, lids shut tight enough to draw brief, dark lines out from the corners of his eyes.

He pulled away while her eyes were still closed, and was gone through the balcony doors before she could find the presence of mind to open them again.

Saeko stood on the balcony for a long time, outlined in the narrow sliver of light cast through the tinted doors as the last colors drained out of the sky. She shut her eyes again and pressed her knuckles against her lips, as though she could transfer the lingering heat before it faded away.

 

By the time Ukai got to Karasuno’s bus, the team was mostly either unconscious or rapidly headed that way. Daichi and Suga had summarily occupied the entire back row of the bus, and Daichi looked dead to the world, the unbruised half of his face buried in Suga’s chest. They seemed to have utterly dropped their usual cautious pretense: Suga had his arm wound tight around Daichi’s waist and their fingers laced together in his lap, his cheek resting on the top of Daichi’s head. Suga looked unconscious, but he opened his eyes when Ukai climbed on board, giving his coach a nervous glance. Ukai jut hot him the closest thing he could manage to a reassuring smile. He appreciated that they downplayed their relationship for the sake of the team, but it wasn’t like he really gave a shit. Especially not after a day like today.

Suga’s eyes lingered on his face, and Takeda shot him a sidelong glance, confirming Ukai’s suspicions that he looked like absolute hell.

“You okay?” Takeda whispered. Ukai nodded unconvincingly, slumping into the other seat behind the driver and scrubbing his hands across his face. His lips were still tingling.

Takeda stood, turning in his seat to do a quick final head-count, and Ukai slumped forward, rubbing at his temples. Saeko’ eyes, lit with the last of the sunset light as she leaned towards him, glowed in the forefront of his memory every time he shut his eyes. _Surely she didn’t actually want me to kiss her…she couldn’t have, not someone like_ her…

She deserved someone so much better, not a convenience store clerk with no future beyond fetching down bottles of sake for little old ladies. And yet…

 _Made them feel like they could finally get stronger…_ you _gave them that…_

He’d never once thought of himself as a coach. He was the lazy clerk with the bad attitude manning his mother’s store, not an athlete, not a leader…he was a clerk and he wasn’t likely to ever be anything more.

And yet, there was something about her that made him _want_ to be.

Ukai jumped to his feet, the weight of what he might have just let slip through his fingers settling heavy on his heart. Takeda had just finished his counting, it hadn’t been long—

“ _Sensei!”_ Takeda jumped and looked at him in confusion. “Can we wait a moment? I—I forgot something inside. Something _important—“_ he bobbed a hasty bow before Takeda could form a response, vaulted the bus steps and took off across the parking lot at a dead run, earning wide-eyed stares from the handful of conscious players.

There were a few silhouettes visible in the lobby, through the smoked glass doors of the arena, but none of them were right, they were players, too tall, no motorcycle helmets— _motorcycles—_ Ukai looked around wildly, spun on his heel and ran around the corner of the building, towards the arrow that read _Motorcycle Parking._

And there she was, under the narrow blue cone of a street lamp that flickered on as he rounded the corner, standing next to her big green Kawasaki, shoulders hunched and eyes downcast and about to lower her helmet over her face.

“ _Saeko-san!”_

She spun towards him at the call, eyes flying wide with surprise. He kidded to a halt in front of her, too breathless to get another word out, but she was stepping towards him, her eyes lit up with a blinding smile and that was all he needed to cup her face in both his hands and kiss her with all the heat and fear and gratitude he’d never be able to put into words.

Saeko gasped against his lips, and then her helmet bounced on the ground and her fingers fisted in the collar of his jacket, pulling him down to her level. Ukai wound an arm around her waist, pulling her to him as tingling heat shot down his spine. Saeko hummed her approval against his lips, snaking a hand up the back of his neck to run through his hair, and he couldn’t stop the shiver that worked its way across his shoulders at her touch.

She pulled back gently after he-wasn’t-sure-how-long, but she didn’t go far, smiling up at him as she nudged their noses together.

“Hey.”

“What?” Ukai replied, well aware that he was still flushed and breathless from his sprint across the parking lot, and also probably grinning like a loon.

“Don’t call me _–san,”_ Saeko said, and cut off his laugh by snaking her arms around his neck and pulling him into another kiss.

 

* * *

 

 

_To: Ace-chan_

_20:03_

_Pay up_

_From: Ace-chan_

_20:04_

_Are you REALLY texting me from 2 seats back_

_To: Ace-chan_

_20:04_

_Id come gloat in person but daichi’s kind of got me pinned_

_I win_

_PAY UP_

_From: Ace-chan_

_20:06_

_You said it was down to Tanaka to confirm it!_

_To: Ace-chan_

_20:09_

_Oh come on._

_There’s nothing but motorcycle parking on that side of the building_

_He came back BLUSHING_

_I WIN ¥10,000 ALL TO ME PLEASE AND THANK_

_From: Ace-chan_

_20:10_

_FINE but you have to pay me back if you’re wrong_

_To: Ace-chan_

_20:10_

_Oh Im not_

_From: Ace-chan_

_20:11_

_I hope you arent tbh_

_He looks happy ^.^_

_To: Ace-chan_

_20:16_

_Yeah_

_Im glad_

_From: Ace-chan_

_20:20_

_Me 2_

**Author's Note:**

> [On Tumblr](http://kenjiandcompany.tumblr.com/)


End file.
